Monday, March 29, 2010

'Black Widow' Female Suicide Bombers Kill 37 in Moscow Metro Blasts

Two female suicide bombers detonated their vests during morning rush hour at metro stations in Moscow, killing 37 people and wounding 65 more. The attack was carried out by the Caucasus Emirate's 'Black Widows,' and was foreshadowed by the leader of the terror group in a statement in February.

The first suicide bomber detonated at the Lubyanka metro station at 7:52 a.m. local time, killing 24 people, according to RIA Novosti. The Lubyanka station is near the headquarters of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor of the notorious KGB.

The second blast took place about 40 minutes later, at the Park Kultury station, which is near the Kremlin, killing 13 people.

The FSB said that an estimated four kilograms of explosives was used in the first suicide attack and 1.5 kilograms was used in the second.

"At present the overall number of the dead as a result of the explosions at the Park Kultury and Lubyanka metro stations is 37, and another 65 were wounded," Irina Adrianova, the spokeswomen for the Ministry for Emergency Situations told ITAR-TASS.

The FSB believes the attacks were carried out by the 'Black Widows,' members of the Caucasus Emirate's female suicide bomber cadre. The chief of the FSB said the heads of two women have been recovered at the blast sites. The Black Widows are typically wives or daughters of family members killed during the wars against the Russians in Chechnya.

The Black Widows have targeted Russian civilians and security personnel in multiple attacks, including: the attack on the Nord-Ost Moscow theater in 2003 (129 killed); an assassination attempt against Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov (14 killed); a suicide attack on a train in Southern Russia (46 killed); a dual suicide attack at a rock concert at Tushino Airfield in Moscow (16 killed); the destruction of two Russian airliners in 2004 (more than 90 killed); and the attack on a school in Beslan in North Ossetia (334 killed).

The Black Widows are a unit within the members of the Riyad-us-Saliheen, or Garden of Paradise, martyr brigade.

"Riyad [the Riyad-us-Saliheen martyr brigade] is believed to be descended from two other Chechen terrorist organizations led by [former Chechen terrorist leader Shamil] Basayev, the Special Purpose Islamic Regiment (SPIR) and the International Islamic Brigade (IIB)," according to the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism datatbase. "It has even been suggested that Riyad is simply the result of the marriage of these two groups."

In the spring of 2009, Doku Umarov, the current leader of the al Qaeda-linked Caucasus Emirate, reignited the Chechen insurgency by launching a wave of suicide attacks in the Caucasus and broadening the battle beyond the Chechen border. In April 2009, Umarov revived the Riyad-us-Saliheen martyr brigade, which has spearheaded the assault.